Temne language

Temne
KʌThemnɛ
Native toSierra Leone, Guinea
RegionNorthern Sierra Leone
EthnicityTemne
SpeakersL1: 2.0 million (2021)
L2: 240,000 (1981)
Latin
Language codes
ISO 639-2tem
ISO 639-3tem
Glottologtimn1235
Temne
Persona-temne
Languageka-temne

Temne (also Themne, Timne; IPA: [t̪emnɛ][missing the tones]) is a language of the Mel branch of the Niger–Congo language family, spoken by the Temne people. Temne speakers live mostly in the Northern Province and Western Area, Sierra Leone. Temne people can be found in a number of other West African countries as well, including Guinea. Some Temnes have also migrated beyond West Africa seeking educational and professional opportunities, especially in Great Britain, and the United States.

Phonology

Temne is a tonal language. Among consonants, Temne distinguishes dental and alveolar, but, unusually, the dental consonants are apical and the alveolar consonants are laminal (and slightly affricated), the opposite of the general pattern, though one found also in the nearby language Limba.

Consonants

Consonants
Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar Glottal
Plosive voiceless p t̪ t k
voiced b d gb
Fricative f s ʃ h
Affricate tʃ
Nasal m n ŋ
Trill r
Lateral l
Approximant w j

Vowels

Temne vowel chart
Vowels
Front Mid Back
Close i u
Close-mid e ɘ o
Open-mid ɛ ɜ ɔ
Open a

Tones

Temne has two tones: high and low.

Writing

The Temne alphabet uses the following letters and digraphs:

aʌbdeɛəfgbhik kplmnŋoɔprstthuw
AɅBDEƐƏFGbHIK KpLMNŊOƆPRSTThUW

Ȧȧ may be used instead of Ʌʌ.

Oral literature

In 1861, C. F. Schlenker, a missionary of the Church Missionary Society, published a collection of Temne fables and proverbs in Temne with a facing-text English translation. Schlenker's source was a Temne man living in Port Loko in the late 1840s; Schlenker explains that he was an old man already at that time. The book also contains some of Schlenker's translations from the Bible into Temne.[citation needed]

In 1916 Northcote Thomas published his Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone; Part 2 contains a Temne-English dictionary and Part 3 contains a grammar of Temne plus 27 stories told in Temne with interlinear English translation. Many of the stories are about the trickster spider, called panis in Temne; the trickster spider is a popular character in the Temne, Vai, Mende, and Limba storytelling traditions of Sierra Leone. In addition, Thomas's Specimens of Languages from Sierra Leone contains tables comparing Temne vocabulary to Kissi and other related languages.

References

  1. 1 2 Temne at Ethnologue (27th ed., 2024) Closed access icon
  2. ↑ Wilson, William André Auquier (2007). Guinea Languages of the Atlantic group: description and internal classification. Schriften zur Afrikanistik. Vol. 12. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
  3. ↑ Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. pp. 23, 42. ISBN 0-631-19815-6.
  4. 1 2 Sierra Leone Temne Language Manual (PDF). Peace Corps. 1987.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Kanu, Sullay M.; Tucker, Benjamin V. (2010). "Temne". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 40 (2): 249. doi:10.1017/S002510031000006X.
  6. ↑ Schlenker, Christian Friedrich (1861). A Collection of Temne Traditions, Fables and Proverbs.
  7. ↑ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 2: Timne-English Dictionary.
  8. ↑ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Anthropological Report on Sierra Leone, part 3: Timne Grammar and Stories.
  9. ↑ Kilson, Marion (1984). "Spider and Royal Antelope in Sierra Leone". Anthropos. 79: 240–243.
  10. ↑ Thomas, Northcote (1916). Specimens of languages from Sierra Leone.

Bibliography